A new low

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

I've said it before and i'll say it again... If you don't like 15 Minutes, then simply ignore it.

 

I didn't mention any names or reveal anything unheard of. The escorts-in-question emailed this to my inbox THEMSELVES and knew that i would be questioning it somehow on this week's blog. In return, i promised them i would keep their identities confidential.

 

A new low? Hardly... It's no worse that what Musto writes or what the crew at Page Six post at the Post. For every 5% that complain about what is written on 15 Minutes, 95% email and let me know that they love it and want more.

 

~bn

[+ Lucky]

Here's how that email might have read:

 

Dear Ben:

 

We are an over the hill escort couple who have recently discovered that we are HIV positve. Since we have so few clients these days, we don't bother disclosing this to them. Could you somehow slip this into your blog? We'd really appreciate the favor. But hey, keep our names out of it, okay? That way no one will guess who it is!

Love,

 

Mutt and Jeff

[Doug69]

>I commit the sin of repeating this gossip to note in how many

>ways it is beyond the pale. The hypocritical sympathy. The

>breach of confidence (yes, let’s rehash that one). The

>exploitation of presumed tragedy to spice a blog and drive

>readership.

 

Adam Smith is absolutely right - this is a new low, even for Benji. And this is so for all of the reasons Adam stated, as well as a reason he didn't state:

 

There are not that many "escort couples" around. In fact, there are very, very few. Especially when it comes to the participants on this site, the term "escort couple" invokes one specific escort couple. Everyone is going to guess or assume that Benji is accusing THAT couple of being HIV-positive - about the lowest thing you can do. It's like saying "I heard that a certain high-priced, weekend-only, blond escort from San Antonio has hepatitis".

 

If it IS the case that the "escort couple" which Benji is announcing has HIV is the couple which Benji intends for everyone to think of, then it's pretty self-evident why what Benji just did is repulsive - accusing someone of having HIV who themselves did not make the announcement.

 

But if - as I'm sure will be the case- Bejni oh-so-innocently protests that he did not mean THAT escorting couple, but some other "escorting couple", it's still repulsive and incredibly irresponsible. It is OBVIOUS given how Benji worded his little "THEY-HAVE-HIV!" item that many, many people would think he was talking about that escort couple. So if it's not that escort couple, then Benji just smeared them in many people's mind and harmed their escorting career by leading people to think that they have HIV.

 

What possible value can there be in Benji's doing this - other than to get attention for himself and to vengefully hurt the careers of escorts whom he doesn't like?

 

As Lucky implied, I'd be willing to bet that Benji is simply lying when he claims that he, out of the blue, got an e-mail from an "escort couple" secretely announcing to him that they have HIV, KNOWING that he would disclose this, but wanting their identities kept secret. What a fucking convoluted and incoherent lie that is. I'd be willing to bet LOTS of money that Benji is lying about gettingh such an e-mail.

 

Much more likely, Benji has animosity towards the "escort couple" in question - something which I have every reason to believe is true - and Benji's implicitly shouting that they have HIV (while doing it in a cowardly way to allow himself the opportunity to deny it) is just his way of attacking escorts WITH FALSE ACCUSATIONS OF HIV whom he doesn't like.

 

I can't wait to hear from the ever-dwindling set of Benji defenders - who would defend him even if he were found to be raping 2 year-olds and slaughtering nuns.

 

In his ever increasing pleas for attention, isn't he sinking too low for anyone to defend him?

[JT Brooklyn]

And the Point of ONE PERSON knowing their Status is ??????? :+

[Guest skrubber]

I've known Ben for a good while now and I never heard of him raping a two year old or slaughtering a nun.

[RockHard]

RE: A new low?...Some of us don't think so.

 

Benjamin Nicholas is part of the reason why I registered here. The expression "15 Minutes" is near and dear to me because I knew Andy Warhol.

 

I've had BN's website bookmarked for years. Not because I ever thought I'd have sex with him but because I liked the style and presentation of his website. I keep many libraries of favorite things.

 

I'm a firm believer in freedom-of-speech so I'm much more a BN fan than foe. I understand the criticisms of the foe club and I respect their right to voice them.

 

I suspect BN realizes, like most commercial artists should, that when you choose fame, even if it's just "15 Minutes," you choose the good with the bad. Not everyone will love you, like you, or think you're nearly as fabulous as you think you are, and you can't please all the people all the time. Yada, yada, yada. BN, dear, welcome to the ugly side of fame.

 

"I've said it before and i'll say it again... If you don't like 15 Minutes, then simply ignore it."

 

I have a feeling as long as "15 Minutes" exists, BN will be forever repeating this line. There comes a time when artists MUST ignore their critics or they seriously risk losing the edge that made them good and likable to begin with. I couldn't help but feel BN's column had lost some zip recently and I wondered whether the foes had gotten to him. If I were his advisor, I'd tell him to stop responding to criticism. A true (or great) artist never needs to justify or explain his talent.

 

In show business, there really is no such thing as bad publicity. Escorting is show business and even hiv+ escorts can find a market. The name of the game is keep your name alive. Good for BN that he doesn't seem to mind creating controversy while building a strong fan base. I just hope he can make enough money off it to retire healthy and chuckle all the way to the bank.

 

Any man who thinks confidentiality is absolute is a fool! Every smart man knows that every secret hits at least one extra pair of ears.

 

Any man who believes that escorts don't discuss their customers must believe their hairdressers don't talk about them either.

 

"A new low? Hardly... It's no worse that what Musto writes or what the crew at Page Six post at the Post."

 

I agree! I'll take Benjamin Nicholas any day over Cindy Adams. He's cuter, he's funnier, and I love his taste in eye candy.

[+ glutes]

Maybe we should re-name BN 'Hedda Hopper of Hooville'!

[JT Brooklyn]

RE: A new low?...Some of us don't think so.

 

ALOT of us do ignore 15 Mins...

But for some "strange reason" there is always someone telling us to anyway, every once in awhile? LOL :+

[+ Lucky]

Doug seems to imply that having HIV is so low as to be almost criminal. Thus an "accusation" that someone has HIV is to be treated with disdain?

 

Personally I see it as personal info to be released only by the people who have reason to release it. If they should choose to release the info through a gossip column, then so be it. But the anonymity of the release begs some questions.

 

Ben writes a gossip column, as he is, of course, entitled to. But he also sells his services as an escort, and uses this site to promote such services. He may want to consider if the way he presents his gossip coincides with the image he wants to have as an escort. By the same token, this website provides a direct link to his column, and the website may want to consider how it comes across in doing so if in fact he is going to use the column to provide gossip about other escorts.

[Doug69]

>Doug seems to imply that having HIV is so low as to be almost

>criminal. Thus an "accusation" that someone has HIV is to be

>treated with disdain?

 

I did not imply this and I do not think this. I do not take an escort's HIV status into consideration at all when hiring because I adhere to the cliched yet true principle that one should assume that everyone with whom one has sex is HIV-positive and act (safely) accordingly. I don't think there is anything low or criminal about HIV or someone who has it and I said nothing to "imply" that.

 

The reality, though, is that many people do see it as something negative - ESPECIALLY for escorts, whose careers could be unquestionably harmed if people think they have HIV. That's why it's so despicable of Benji to cast aspersions in this way. It would be one thing if he reported facts about an escort which contradicted an escort's public claims (such as information showing that an escort who claims to have only safe sex spends his nights trolling for loads in his ass on the Internet).

 

But to shout out someone's HIV status in this most cowardly and implied way, all for the purpose of smearing someone and destroying their career, is indisputably reprehensible.

 

>Personally I see it as personal info to be released only by

>the people who have reason to release it. If they should

>choose to release the info through a gossip column, then so be

>it. But the anonymity of the release begs some questions.

 

I have serious doubts about the veracity of Benji's claims for the reason YOU suggested. Take a look at what Benji is claiming was said in this e-mail he claims he received. You re-created it yourself. Who the fuck would do that? Someone - an escort - wants to disclose their HIV status in Benji's blog through innunedo and implication but not have their identities disclosed (just enough about them disclosed to make everyone think it's them)? Who the fuck would believe that?

 

What Benji did was disgusting even if what he claims is true - for the reasons Adam Smith said in his first post. But I believe that Benji is lying - that he made up this story about receiving a mysterious email from an "escort couple" who -- according to Benji -- wanted Benji to dislcose their HIV status but not their identity.

 

We all know who he smeared when he did this - either deliberately or by "accident". That was the purpose of this item - to smear an escort by lying about the escort's HIV status and then broadcasting it to the world. What could be lower than that?

[+ Lucky]

Well, I am glad you don't think having HIV is criminal, and I laud your approach to your own protection.

 

But I can't say with any certainty that I know who Ben is talking about, but, as you point out, the pool of potential couples is limited. It really isn't fair to any of them to do a blind item like this, and to gossip as such about someone's personal health crisis is, as Adam Smith says, low.

[Yeswell]

RE: A new low?...Some of us don't think so.

 

I just want to say that you cannot call BN an artist. It's fine to defend his column, but to call it art is just, well, crazy.

[Luv2play]

Frankly, I don't know what you are ranting about. I read the blog after seeing this thread and it clearly states "a former high-profile escort couple". "former". That would not appear to apply to the couple you seem to have in mind that participates (at least half of the couple) on this site. I don't know who this former couple is and it is not even clear whether they still escort (obviously not as a couple). So why all the indignation?

[RockHard]

RE: A new low...time will tell.

 

"Ben writes a gossip column, as he is, of course, entitled to. But he also sells his services as an escort, and uses this site to promote such services. He may want to consider..." the ramifications of conflict-of-interest issues? Makes sense to me.

 

I do feel that BN walks a tight rope (I like men with balls) and my curiosity regarding his motives continues. Is this an ego-stroking attempt to acquire worthless fame? Is this a stepping-stone to something bigger, like a book deal or a movie? Is he simply bored with escorting and caught up in the tell-all blog phenomenon? Or is this a half-ass attempt to be something more than just a male companion with no guidance, no big-picture goals, no advisors, let-me-just-do-this-and-see-what-happens sort of thing? Whatever the answer, I advise BN to keep it to himself. Mysteries are sexier.

 

Fame isn't worthless if the notoriety attracts new customers. Only BN can say whether profit dollars are up because plenty of men want to purchase the services offered by this Carrie Bradshaw wannabe. Men can be seduced by fame and the written word. I have a feeling BN's numbers are up.

 

Truth be told, as long as "15 Minutes" appears on this site, I will always read it, even though some of the things he says are laughable. I like to laugh. I can't say I'd go elsewhere for it because that requires diverting my attention somewhere else and I tend to be too busy for that.

 

I think BN has talent. He's young. He needs to write more and he needs to write better but I can't deny, there's something there.

 

Had he asked for my advice (send a $400 check, please), I probably would have talked him into creating a fabulous pseudonym. With a professional alias, he would have been free to write without risk to his companion business and he would have enjoyed the pleasure of going as far as he felt the column deserved. Even if he called the column "15 Minutes with Benji," as long as he never admitted to anyone that Benji was, in fact, Benjamin Nicholas, he would have been free to live two fabulous double lives with great possibilities for the future, providing he honed his writing skills, of course.

[Guest skywalker]

I feel it is in poor tact to bring up something of as great importance and as personal as someone else's health in a public column such as 15 Minutes, especially in the way it was done in this case.

 

I'm also astounded by the great leaps to conclusions some individuals have made here.

[buckguy]

Although BN's posting is odd (seemingly appropos of nothing), the attention given to it is also odd. Doug & others do have their obsessive vendetta against, BN, but in the end, it's a train wreck we've missed and we all wonder who this couple might be, if, in fact, they really exist.

 

The funny thing is this--many people in the gay adult entertainment biz are HIV+. Few people publicize this---on the one hand, you have Greg from Seattle, who is pretty matter of fact about it. Then, you have Jeff Palmer, who's positive and crazy (I suspect the crazy always has been there). Then there rea the guys who work for barebacking video compaines who advertise on barebacking sites and never bother disclosing their HIV status, even though its pretty likely to be positive.

 

Given that there is so little discussion, the issue of the "positive pair" at once a mundane (anyone who assumes that an escort is HIV- is kidding themelves), yet it is titilliating---which high profile pair is it?

 

For Dougie, this topic is like red meat, yet I have to wonder why it matters in the first place. I'm probably answering my own question, but why does one who's so obsessed with an escort, yet never writes reviews, is so compelled to yammer on about this? BN's blog is self-indulgent and not very interesting, yet, seemingly critical people wind up creating interest in it. Either satisfy our curiosity or come up with better content. If they supposedly emailed you, they must have expected you'd publicize this, esp. if they've escorted mostly in the past tense.

[RockHard]

RE: Are writers not artists?

 

"I just want to say that you cannot call BN an artist."

 

Well, I had thought of mentioning that Maureen Dowd, one of my favorite writers at the NY Times, gets a ton of hate mail. Of course comparing Benjamin Nicholas to Ms. Dowd is very funny. But the point is, early on, she quickly stopped reading the hate mail and she stopped responding to it. (She's admitted that it hurt her feelings and she couldn't believe how mean some people could be. But she's smart enough to realize her writing style and opinion are far more the "star" than her hate club.)

 

Not all art is "high" art, Yeswell. A quick look at Hollywood makes that point clear. Great escorts are actually very good actors. I always thought that any young, handsome guy that could feign lust and pleasure with some of those god-awful men that lurked at the gaiety deserved an Oscar.

 

Not every escort can write, write gossip, let alone make people laugh with their words. Go ahead, you try. Writing with impact is an art. I'm not suggesting BN is FABULOUS or even Kitty Kelley. He's not. But, given his taste, style, good looks, and edgy appeal, and the fact that some gay men really hate him, sounds to me like a formula for success.

[jackhammer91406]

Most everyone on this site is well aware of my opinion regarding this kind of blind gossip item. They also could hardly be unaware of my feeling about Benjamin's column having a link from this site.

 

I understand some will call my opinion some kind of vendetta. Not so.

I have no other gripe with him except that he shares too much information about his clients with his clients.

 

My beef is allowing his column to be linked from this site. I have stated it clearly each time this young man has done something like this. After all the hoohah over the last indiscretion, I am baffled that he would boldly go right at it again in another column. That really is telling and this site allowing it to continue is telling as well.x(

[Guest mbarz]

>I've said it before and i'll say it again... If you don't

>like 15 Minutes, then simply ignore it.

>

 

I do ignore it, it's really quite easy, I've never been that interested in your self-indulgent rants, your made up travel schedule or your mind numbing, excruciatingly boring, detail of a hotel room, but when someone mentions it I'll skim over it, but even then, it's enough to make me sick.

 

 

>I didn't mention any names or reveal anything unheard of. The

>escorts-in-question emailed this to my inbox THEMSELVES and

>knew that i would be questioning it somehow on this week's

>blog. In return, i promised them i would keep their

>identities confidential.

>

 

Admit it Princess, you did it to be a cunt. You knew who people would think it was and you made up a story about an e-mail, you lied, like you always do, in the most transparent way, just admit it.

 

 

>A new low? Hardly... It's no worse that what Musto writes or

>what the crew at Page Six post at the Post. For every 5% that

>complain about what is written on 15 Minutes, 95% email and

>let me know that they love it and want more.

>

 

The difference between you and Musto is that he is a writer and you are nothing more than a wh-ore, you won't get much lower than that.

[RockHard]

RE: A new low...or high, depending.

 

Sorry about my being a little slow on discovery...I just noticed BN's url "15 Minutes More - Coming mid-summer 2005." Again, I would have advised the use of "mid" as too specific. Unless you can guarantee a launch date, a general sense allows for more flexibility. After all, shit happens. (Another $400 check, please.)

 

Hey wait! Hasn't mid-summer 2005 already passed? My early morning erection seems to be rubbing against flannel long-johns.

 

So the bigger-picture question yields another clue. BN does have something bigger in mind. I like the graphics (don't like the font choice for the bottom line) and there's nice use of black. Not typical of a Texan.

 

Maybe he plans to cut down on escorting (the life expectancy is rather limited), keep a close stable of loyal customers with an ever-open wallet, and focus more on writing about his experience. I imagine he's got tons of salacious tales to tell.

 

I can understand why some men might be a little nervous. I think it's time to make some popcorn (I like mine Last Tango-style, with butter).

[Doug69]

>Frankly, I don't know what you are ranting about. I read the

>blog after seeing this thread and it clearly states "a former

>high-profile escort couple". "former".

 

Benji's pretentious, half-literate writing style often renders his meaning unclear and imprecise (as but one example, he wrote this sentence in his last blog item: "While we still love Billy for his over-the-top talent, we must concede our right as the real breakers of this story about La Griffin." He wanted to say that he was CLAIMING the right to be recognized as the story-breaker, but he used "concede" because he thought the word means the opposite of what it actually means). Despite the awkward and strained nature of Benji's writing, here, it is clear that you are mis-reading what he wrote.

 

The word "former" modifies "high-profile," not "escort couple." It's a characteristic bitchy Benji snipe - he obviously has animosity for this "couple" (why else would he be screaming about their HIV status to the world?) and is trying to insult them by calling them "formerly high-profile" - i.e, past their time, over the hill, un-fabulous. Benji's entire world is based on worship of fame (he has written 1,000 times about the one time he claims he met Jake Gyllanhal- every blog strains to include some celebrity reference ("I know so-and-so in this movie; I was at a party with this singer; I know people in the cast of this musical"), and so for him, the greatest insult is to say that someone was "formerly" high-profile.

 

It is crystal clear (pun intended) that the couple whom Benji smeared still escorts. Here is what he wrote after disclosing this oh-so-"terrible news": "While i wish them only the best in this really tough time, i will say that letting their clients know ahead of time might the professional and sane thing to do. Only time will tell..."

 

He's preaching to this unfortunate, "formerly high-profile escort couple" with HIV that they should tell their clients AHEAD OF TIME - ahead of meeting with their clients. You think that these escorts wrote to Benji, confided their HIV-status, knew he would disclose it in his column, and that Benji then did so and decided to take the opportunity to lecture them publicly about how they should tell their clients about their HIV status? Are you really incapable of seeing what he's doing here? How dense can someone be?

 

Don't you realize that if you wanted to smear an escort and hurt his career, the best way to do it would be to start spreading rumors that he has HIV? Are you really so fucking blind that you can't see that Benji's item has no purpose other than that?

 

I haven't written much about Benji lately because there has been a great sea change where he is concerned. Whereas it was the case even a year or so ago that anyone who wrote a single un-worshippful sentence about him would be swarmed with endless attacks, the scales have fallen from just about everyone's eyes and there is virtually nobody left who fails to see what a deceitful, dishonest, hateful creature he is. The more desperate he gets for attention, the lower he sinks, and the more unnecessary it becomes to point out what he's really about.

 

As for his motives, the one thing I agree with RockHard about is that Benji is now pursuing more and more extreme behavior in his blog because it's the only thing left for him. He has obviously decided that his escorting "career" can no longer be the focal point to pay his rent. If anyone has any doubts about this or why it is, this should tell you all you need to know:

 

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y273/chgo/15header1.jpg

[+ glutes]

RE: A new low, and moving on...

 

Chuck50 Tue Sep-27-05 08:55 AM

Member since Mar 17th 2002

1452 posts

 

#91408, "Can we Move on??"

 

 

 

 

From the one that has the most in this I ask us to all move on. I have talked to both BN and VM and lets just say I want to move on. We are not accomplishing anything by battling each other. What has been said can not be taken back. Each person that reads this board will have to decide for themselves. HUGS Chuck

[Guest mbarz]

RE: A new low, and moving on...

 

Doug is correct when he says Benji did this to be a bitch and it has nothing to do with Chuck or Vincent Michaels, so why post it? if you're suggesting people drop this topic, it's really none of your business what others discuss here.

[Yeswell]

RE: Are writers not artists?

 

Most Hollywood movies are not art at all. If the word "art" is to mean anything it can't be used to describe what happens anyone puts pen to paper. BN's writing is not good enough to be called art. If you find it amusing, fine, but that's not the same as saying it's art.

[Yeswell]

RE: Are writers not artists?

 

Sorry, I meant "anytime anyone puts pen to paper."